[Early February 1916]

I received your long letter about Masha and so on.¹ It has become even clearer to me that Masha is hopeless and that one must act not from above (or more precisely, not only from above), but (mainly) from below, preparing your own group, purely French. What firm [name], it doesn't matter ("International Socialists of France," "Revolutionary Internationalists of France," etc.). What is important is the substance: not to be afraid of a split, to understand its inevitability, to go against Trotsky and Merheim², to go with the Zimmerwald Left³. That is the essence. Such a group (even if only 2-3 Frenchmen) is more important than dozens and hundreds of friends of Merheim. If you publish "*Socialism and War*"⁴, there is a need for a chapter on French opposition. If you don't write it in Paris, inform us precisely of the deadline and length, we will try to send [it].

Concerning the trip "to that country"—in my opinion, it is useful for the cause; the main goal is to form and maintain your own group there (establish conspiratorial relations with it). We ourselves did not know beforehand about the Zimmerwald conference. Grimm deliberately told us all later.

If Masha turned out to be like that, then I am personally very glad that this... [woman] refused to go into our journal.

We would have then proposed to her only that our group publish a letter to the workers of France.

There is no point in spending much time on such a [person] as Merheim: it is clear that it is hopeless. In all countries only direct enemies of Kautskyism are interesting, only [those] not afraid of a split.

P.S. For Grisha⁵ the key [point] is the attitude toward Chkeidze and Co. Here you must strike at... "*Nashe Slovo*" and Trotsky and Co.

¹ We are speaking of a letter from I. F. Armand from Paris. She reported on the situation in the Paris section of the RSDLP and on the activities of the "Committee for the Restoration of International Relations," in the work of which Bolsheviks participated. Armand also reported on difficulties in work with Merheim, one of the leaders of this committee. "As a summary of my first impressions," she wrote, "I think that from above, that is, through the Merheim committee, it will hardly be possible to accomplish anything in the short term. And therefore we will diligently attend his meetings and do what we can there, but we must seek other paths—try to act from below" (TsPA IML at the CC CPSU).

Who or what is hidden behind the pseudonym "Masha" has not been established.

² Alphonse Merheim—French trade union leader, syndicalist; participated in the Zimmerwald Conference, sided with the Zimmerwald Right.

³ The Zimmerwald Left—a group of left internationalists, founded on the initiative of V. I. Lenin at the International Socialist Conference in Zimmerwald in September 1915.

⁴ We are speaking of the brochure "*Socialism and War* (Attitude of the RSDLP to the War)."

⁵ We are speaking of G. Yakovlevich Belenkii, member of the Bolshevik party from 1903. In 1912 he emigrated to France. In 1914-1917 he was secretary of the Paris section of the Bolsheviks.